You Are “In”!

WED., MAY 15, 1996, 8:44 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

Such an affirmation rightly kindles your sense of humility. Yet the discussion with this comfortable group of Christians, based on “bi-polar” Paul, both affirmed and questioned such a positive statement. Remember that it is I, the Holy Spirit, Who gave you that title, so, naturally, you should listen to My development of it. Right!?

Let’s first go back 17 years. You are sequestering yourself each morning to write. Why? Because you credited Me with a small, but important (at the time) miracle that came after you pledged to return to early morning “meditation”. I “came through”, and you were keeping your pledge. (It was Finals time then, and you can’t imagine how you were able to be that faithful, given your “problems” with time now.) You, at this point, those 17 years ago, were “pulling an Abraham”… being faithful without any personal assurance that what you were doing was what I wanted from you.

Then came the surprising change that I certainly want you to remember next week. I came to you, with words, phrases, ideas, facts, and affirmations, and you wrote as you “heard”. Was this real? Though you now see your faith journey in a clearer way, there was little to confirm the reality of the experience then. You continued in faith, but without confirmation from those around you. (You do wonder whether you would have persisted if Lenore would not have been supportive… or would have been a rejector of such a “gift”. You know that her experience with her mother was not a particularly positive one.)

But you continued, and so did I. It became increasingly clear to you that I had chosen you for this unorthodox “mission”. I told you that I waited until your basic faith was established, and your writing style had been honed to a state I found acceptable. I told you that you were not a prophet… that I was not foretelling through you. What, then, was this all about? You were chosen to be taught by Me, by means of these tangible, written Teachings (capital T). Will I use these in some wonderful way later? That is of no consequence to you. You needn’t even ask.

I did urge you, after a couple of years, to adapt another early, secular venture to My purposes, and Russell’s Ruminations came into being. These are good, but not outstanding by your culture’s standards. They are suspect from the more extreme perspectives of orthodoxy and the historical interpretations of those churches AND of the differently fundamental pentecostal groups. Yet I like them, because they’re based firmly in what I’ve taught you.

I have told you that you, a rational, middle-class, mainline Christian, American professor, are plumped down in the midst of the mystical tradition, My favorite (I tell you, anyway). You are a low-level mystic, but, recall, the first shall be last, and the last, first. I tell you of diversity, and this gift from Me certainly makes you one of the almost singularly diverse. But you’re handling it well. I’m satisfied with Our relationship.

In Paul’s terms, you are “in”. You have been chosen, and you have accepted. Could you have done otherwise? You know now that you couldn’t. Does this bother you? Not in the least. Remember that it isn’t a matter of your not having a will, but one of Mine being more powerful. Your call is not to be “good”, but to be faithful. If you are faithful you will be “good” in My eyes. If you should become less faithful how would I react? Well, try it if you want to, but I promise you won’t find departure satisfying.